


Leaving the Trail

by SarcasticSmiler



Series: Weredog!Fíli AU [6]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Baby Dwarves, Gen, I should probably warn that this does contain a threat to fili's person while as a puppy, Promise, but it works out in the end, seriously they're kinda young in this, so this is more pre-fili/kili than actual fili/kili, weredog!Fíli
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 05:14:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7300924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarcasticSmiler/pseuds/SarcasticSmiler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mjeanuniverse gave the prompt - were dog Fili is trapped because some human farmer thought he had killed some of his chickens/lambs/whatever. Fili is dragged off to doggie jail/animal control to be euthanized for his 'crimes.' Kili and Thorin and any of the other dwarves to the rescue.</p>
<p>And, well, this happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leaving the Trail

**Author's Note:**

> Word of warning this has only been given a cursory read over so there's likely to be mistakes with spelling, wording, grammar, etc, for that I apologise.  
> Also the pov jumps about a bit, it wasn't originally intended to do that, it just kinda happened.

It started as a game.

Well, _they_ called it a game, their father called it training.

It was their version of hide and seek, only Kíli would run off and hide, and Fíli would put his wet little nose to the ground and seek him out.

The morning had started like any other, though it’s ending was unpleasantly different.

-x-

Kíli bounced out the house, squealing, “Come find me, Fee!”

Fíli had dutifully lain by the door, paws over his eyes and tail swishing back and forth, as he counted to twenty, just enough time for Kíli to disappear from sight. Then he was off, nose to the ground, sending up small puffs of dust as he sniffed and snorted at the earth. Kíli’s scent trail a clear line to follow.

He was almost to the edge of the woods when another, sharper scent made itself known. The unfamiliar tang of it making him sneeze hard enough to knock him onto his backside.

Fíli sat there, slightly bewildered, as he contemplated the ground before him.

His little brother’s scent headed straight for the trees, but the other wove through the tall grass away from them.

Fidgeting a little, Fíli glanced at the trees again. He knew he should ignore the new scent and find Kíli, but his curiosity was bubbling away inside him, demanding to be sated.

Nose twitching, he made his decision…and followed the new scent through the grass. The long blades hiding his little golden body from sight.

Kíli frowned from his perch in a nearby tree, watching his brother disappear, the swaying grass the only thing betraying his whereabouts. Hopping down to the ground he tried to follow, small hands pushing at the green stalks and grumbling as some slipped from his fingers to flick in his face.

Fíli barely noticed when he emerged from the rough grass, nose, and attention, still trained on the ground and the sharp scent left upon it. He didn’t realise he was heading towards the outskirts of the settlement of Men that was found not far from their own village.

It wasn’t until he walked head first into a fence of wire mesh and found himself face to face with a panicking flock of hens that he realised he should’ve just gone to look for his brother.

Tail creeping between his legs, Fíli tried to slink away from the coop, body as close to the ground as he could get it.

He yelped, high pitched and frightened, when a large hand clamped down and lifted him by the scruff of his neck, bringing him eyelevel with an angry looking Man.

“Tryin’ t’steal more of ma birds are ya? Ya mangy cur, I’ll teach ya!”

Fíli trembled in the man’s grip, he knew he couldn’t change back, Men weren’t allowed to know that they could shift. He’d been told _horrible_ stories of what happened when they did find out.

“I’ll not lose anymore t’your lot,” the Man spat, shaking the terrified pup before flinging him into a disused coop and latching the door.

Curling up as small as he could, Fíli whimpered quietly in the corner furthest from the door.

Kíli watched, wide eyed, from the long grass as the Man threatened his brother. As much as he wanted to run down and save Fíli, he knew he wasn’t big enough.

The Man was scary.

He knew he needed someone scarier.

Rising to his feet, Kíli bolted, running as fast as his little legs would go, heading for the forge in his village.

“ _Uncle Thorin_!” he screamed, “ _Uncle Dwalin_!”

“Kíli?” his father poked his head out the forge’s doorway, “What has gotten into you?”

“Adad! A bad Man’s got Fíli! He’s locked him up and he’s really angry!” running into his father’s legs, Kíli spoke so quickly the older dwarf could barely understand him.

“What Man? Where?”

“The farm by the woods,” Kíli pointed back the way he’d come.

“Get your uncles,” Víli said, pushing Kíli into the forge before tearing off his clothes and speeding away on four paws.

-x-

Grooves were forming in the earth beneath his paws where he tried to push himself as far back as possible, almost willing his body to break through the wire.

Wide, watery eyes fixed on the Man where he’d pulled a slightly rusted axe from the log pile by his house.

Fíli whimpered again, a terrified bark escaping him when the Man tested the edge of the axe against his thumb, red beading on the skin and smearing the metal.

With a grin the Man stalked towards Fíli’s cage, ignoring the high pitched yelps the pup let loose, pressing himself even closer to the wire.

Just as he reached for the latch, the pup silenced.

Instead, a deep growl filled the air.

Turning, the Man found himself faced with an animal much large than that shut up in his abandoned coop.

Teeth bared and hackles raised, Víli stalked towards the Man threatening his son.

“Get outta here, mutt,” the Man spat, brandishing the axe in an attempt to scare off the dog.

Snapping at the Man, Víli forced him to circle away from the door, placing himself between his son and the angry farmer.

It was how Thorin and Dwalin found them but a few minutes later, Víli snapping whenever the axe wielding Man attempted to get closer.

“What is the meaning of this?” Thorin asked, tone deceptively calm.

“Mind yer own business, dwarf.”

“Those dogs _are_ my business.”

“Then you’ll be payin’ for what I lost then, won’t ya,” the Man practically growled, turning to face the two dwarves standing before him, “Those mongrels of yers have killed ha’f me flock.”

Cool blue eyes flicked over the coops, taking in the shallow furrows dug under the wire, a few tuffs of reddish fur caught in some of the mesh.

Thorin snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You think my dogs did that?”

The Man sneered, looking to take a threatening step forward before Dwalin shifted slightly behind his King, the chains of his knuckle dusters clinking and his axes glinting in the sunlight, making him change his mind.

“A fox is your problem, not my hunting dogs, even a blind _fool_ would be able to tell you that. Now release him and we shall be on our way.”

“I won’t. I caught that mutt sniffin’ round my hens,” turning back to the pen, the Man attempted to stalk forward, only to find his progress halted by the blade suddenly pressed to his throat.

“I’ll say it again, shall I?” Thorin said, voice taking on a slight growl, “Release him and we shall be on our way.”

The Man swallowed heavily, the bristles of his short beard catching on the blade’s edge.

“Fine,” though he tried to sound somewhat belligerent, they all heard how his voice trembled.

“Good.”

With the blade removed from his throat, he gingerly stepped forward to unlatch the door.

As soon as the gap was wide enough, Víli shot into the pen. Nosing at his dirt covered, trembling son, he tried to coax him from the corner just enough that he could pick him up by his scruff to carry him home.

Once Víli was out, Fíli dangling rather limply from his jaws, Thorin nodded curtly to the Man, turning sharply to head back the way they’d come.

“Thievin’ bunch of inbred…” the Man grumbled under his breath, raising his axe to strike at the haughty dwarf.

“I think not,” Dwalin growled, hand clamping round and twisting the Man’s wrist till the inferior axe fell to the earth. Yanking further, he pulled him to his knees, “Word of advice – I think it’s time ya found somewhere else to live.”

Before the Man could even stutter a reply, Dwalin’s fist flew towards his face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

-x-

Dis checked over her supplies once more, fingers trembling in both anger and worry as she tried to guess what she might need when they brought her eldest home.

Kíli clung to her skirts, tears rolling down his cheeks as he wiped his running nose on the fabric.

The sound of claws on the flagstones had her head snapping towards the door.

She watched as her husband lowered their worryingly limp and vacant pup to the floor.

In a flurry of fabric, Dis scooped her boy into her arms, holding him tight to her chest she ran her hand over him, fingers combing through dirt encrusted fur as she checked for any injuries.

“He’s ok,” Víli said, tugging on a tunic that had been tossed over the back of a kitchen chair, “Just in shock.”

Rocking gently, Dis hummed quietly, lips pressing soft kisses against softer fur.

A small startled yelp, and suddenly she had her arms full of naked dwarfling.

“Amad!” Fíli choked, tears rising and spilling down his cheeks as he wrapped his arms around her neck and buried his face in her dark hair.

“Adad?” Kíli asked quietly, lower lip trembling as he tugged on his father’s tunic, “Will Fíli be ok?”

“He’ll be fine, young one,” Víli tried to smile reassuringly as he lifted his youngest, settling him on his hip, “You did the right thing coming to get us.”

-x-

Thorin returned home later that evening to find his family curled around each other on the rug before the hearth.

Kíli clinging to Fíli as they snuggled on their mother’s lap.

Víli sat behind Dis, his wife settled comfortably between his legs as she rested back against his chest, his hands stroking the unruly messes his boys called hair.

“Thorin,” Dis smiled in greeting as he lowered himself to the floor beside them.

“How is he?”

“Ok, still a little in shock, I think. But he’ll be ok.”

“Everyone’s been told what happened,” Thorin said, leaning forward to brush his thumb over the soft whiskers on Fíli’s cheek, their colouring almost pure gold in the fire light, “With Kíli screaming bloody murder through the streets, they were all worried.”

Víli flinched at his brother-in-law’s choice of words, he’d seen the small red gleam of blood on that axe, he knew it could’ve been so much worse if he hadn’t have gotten there when he did.

“I doubt the boys will be allowed out of anyone’s sight for a while to come,” Thorin continued, oblivious to Víli’s reaction.

“And the farmer?” Víli asked.

“Seems to have taken Dwalin’s advice. I’ve dwarves keeping an eye on him, just to make sure he leaves the village entirely. He’ll not pose a threat to this family again,” Thorin promised, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

They all glanced down as Fíli whimpered in his sleep, Kíli rousing just enough to snuggle closer to his brother and press a kiss to his forehead, smoothing out the distressed crease between his brows.

“Ssshh, Fee, you’re ‘k now,” he mumbled, waiting till Fíli settled again before drifting back to sleep himself, unaware of the adults smiling softly at them.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt based 'verse and I've only got two more prompts to figure out before I've nothing left unless I like any of those random prompt posts that pop up on my dash over on tumblr. So if you have an idea for this verse, I'd be happy to hear it. If not, then no worries, I'm sure I'll find something eventually.
> 
> Also this verse started out as being a happy thing, what the hell happened?


End file.
